


moments of weakness

by yogurettemangolassi



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Feels, Gen, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:22:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26702896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yogurettemangolassi/pseuds/yogurettemangolassi
Summary: Five yanks his arm away from Vanya but there's a split second he's distracted, a split second he looks back at her concerned face and falters. A split second is all the masked assassin on the floor, who's apparently not dead yethow is he not dead, needs to pull the trigger and Five goes down.-In which Five accidently activates his powers' fail-safe protocol and his siblings walk a mile in his shoes.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves, The Hargreeves Family
Comments: 48
Kudos: 352





	1. Chapter 1

Five yells "Hold on!" and Klaus instinctively goes to grab Diego's hand. 

He reckons the others had the same instinct because there's the familiar blue flash of Five's powers taking over his vision and the nauseating lurch in his stomach and then it suddenly stops and Klaus expects to see Griddy's or the bowling alley or hell- just the alleyway next to the academy. 

But he opens his eyes and they're back where they started, staring at a somehow very angry _Sparrow Academy_. 

Before he has time to be confused Five yells "Hold on!" and instinct takes over once again and there's a blue flash and a nauseating lurch and-

The terribly (and ridiculously) edgy Ben still stares at them. Klaus looks around, confused, because something can't be right here. He meets Diego's eyes, equally confused, and feels relief that he isn't the only one noticing that Five keeps dropping them back into their old living area. 

But Five yells "Hold on!" and Klaus thinks it can't hurt to trust his brother one more time and holds on and here comes the flash of blue light and the feeling of his last meal in the sixties coming back up. 

To no avail. He's getting real tired of looking at this version of his deceased brother ( _he doesn't want to think about this yet he needs a bottle of rum before he can think about this_ ) and when Five yells "Hold on!" again he's ready to give his brother a piece of his mind because this is clearly not working. But Allison beats him to it. 

"Stop!", she commands and the light coming from Five's clenched fists fizzles out as he whips his head around to shoot his patented death glare at his sister. "This is clearly not working!" 

_Amen, sister_. 

"What do you mean?", Five sneers and his hands start glowing again. "We gotta get out of here so just hold the fuck on." 

"Yeah, no", Klaus says and puts a hand on Five's shoulder and immediately regrets it because Five slaps his hand - _hard_. "We need another out because your blinking is clearly not working, bro." 

Five looks absolutely furious and Klaus thinks there's a bit of confusion in his green eyes (and something that looks a lot like a lot of exhaustion) but before he can throw himself at Klaus and rip his throat out, Diego steps up, knives ready and says "Allison". 

" _I heard a rumor that you let us leave peacefully._ " 

And Five is very huffy when they do but that's that. Klaus almost forgets about him dropping them in the living room three times in a row and no one mentions it. 

-

It happens again when they discover that Diego being Herb's friend isn't going to keep them safe from the Commission. 

They're trying to lay low in a shitty motel at the edge of town that was partly paid for with Klaus' evaded taxes and Allison's very reluctant rumors. Still, Klaus thinks this will be a very short-lived solution. The Hargreaves lying low and not attracting attention? Unheard of. 

It's kind of hard to be inconspicuous when your half-ape brother insists on getting food and ice every few hours and starts arguing with your other brother who keeps puncturing the wall and the already old and broken furniture with knives. 

Everyone is tired and weary and the worst part is, he can't even look to Ben for advice. It's getting harder not to think about it but he _really_ doesn't want to deal with his grief on top of everything else. 

He's getting a headache. 

"We need a game plan." 

And Five's never-ending tirade about _we need to do something_ or _the time line's fucked we gotta do something_ or _stop drinking Klaus we need to focus_ is making sure he's living in his absolute personal hell. He needs a drink. Desperately. 

"What you need is a nap", Allison mumbles from the bed. She's been extra cranky the past two days but considering her daughter basically ceased to exist, Klaus decides to cut her some slack. 

Next to her, Vanya nods enthusiastically and Klaus decides to join in. Maybe they can bully Five into sleeping so he doesn't have to get up and _do things_. Besides, bullying his little brother is his God given right as a big brother. Plus, it's fun. 

"Yeah, short stack. Did you even sleep last night? You look like absolute shit." 

Klaus supposes the glare that Five sends his way used to be very intimidating on a fifty-something man but it only makes him look even more like a tired and moody kid. Klaus really wants him to throw a temper tantrum or something. They really need some entertainment around here. 

"Does it matter?", Five asks and throws his hands up. "We need to have a plan, what are we-" 

"Of course it matters", Diego interrupts. "You're getting really annoying and I don't wanna deal with you right now so go take a nap." 

"Annoying?", Five bristles and oh boy, here comes the tantrum. "You want to know what's really annoying? Getting stuck in the wrong timeline with my brain dead siblings who would rather sit around and do _nothing_ than figure out how to fucking fix this!" 

Allison rolls her eyes and Vanya slightly leans forward, as if not to startle Five. Klaus respects her bravery. 

"You should really try and sleep", she says in a soft voice. "We all need rest and you haven't gotten any. We can figure out the rest later." 

" _Later-_ " 

Diego groans and sinks even deeper into his chair. Klaus wonders if Luther will think of the alcohol he asked him for. Probably not. 

"We all need to recharge for a bit, Five", Allison says and she probably meant to defuse the situation but Five looks even more upset at the mention of recharging. "You couldn't even teleport the day before, just take a breather." 

"I couldn't teleport? You guys wouldn't even let me try!", Five cries indignantly but finally settles at the edge of the bed. Klaus takes that as a win. 

"Uh, yes we did", Klaus says. "You kept dropping us in the living room and I nearly threw up. Not pleasant." 

Five looks confused. "I didn't." 

"You definitely did. Don't try and talk your way out of this", Allison huffs but there's a small smile playing at her lips as she leans over and flicks Five in the head. 

"Yeah, you did. So embarrassing", Diego grins. 

"I didn't-", Five starts but is interrupted when Luther bursts through the door. The first thing Klaus notices is the lack of shopping bags and therefore the lack of alcohol. The second thing is Luther's general state of disarray. 

"We've got company, guys." He sounds like he's been running and Klaus is so not up for running right now. He'd rather stare down evil emo Ben again or wrestle Five to sleep. Anything, really. 

"Did you get a good look at them?" Diego asks the same moment Five snaps "How many?" and Allison practically jumps out of the bed. Even Vanya carefully slips out of under the covers. God, he hates this family and their willingness to do things. He needs to find a new one. 

Still, he gets up and joins Diego at the window. The things he does for these dumbasses. 

"They tailed me for a while", Luther gasps but doesn't move away from the door, blocking it. "Had to haul ass when they started shooting." 

Five curses under his breath and rakes his hands through his ready messed up hair. Klaus thinks he looks really stressed and he would definitely take time to feel bad for him if it wasn't for Diego dragging him away from the window and shoving him on the floor right before bullets shatter their windows. 

He thinks he hears Vanya screaming or maybe it's Allison but he's too busy trying not to cut up his hands on the broken glass littering the floor and trying not to freak out. They really couldn't have one nice thing, huh. 

_Don't think of bullets mowing down the boys next to you and don't think about crawling through mud while trying not to get shot and don't think about holding the love of your life while he bleeds and bleeds and it's so loud-_

The shooting stops and Klaus looks around to see all of his siblings pressed to the floor, looking relatively unharmed. Five scrambles to his feet and Klaus barely has time to think _wow he looks exhausted_ before he's gone in a flash of blue light and suddenly someone outside is screaming.

Klaus has half a mind to just let Five handle it but Diego is already blazing through the door, knives ready and Luther at his heels. Allison is shaking her head, muttering something about boys having no self preservation skills and just having gotten comfortable but nonetheless, she too runs out of the door and Klaus kind of feels betrayed. He wants to stay curled up on the floor but he has to think of his family so she shoves his thoughts aside. He'll deal with everything later. 

Later. 

He crawls over to Vanya, who is also still on the floor and looking suspiciously pale. He may not be any good in a fight but he can at least make sure his sister doesn't blow up the moon. Again. 

"Are you okay?, he yells over the commotion outside and touches her arm. Vanya looks up at him and nods. It's a little shaky but Klaus is just glad they're not about to get crushed by moon rocks. He tries to reassure her with a smile but it probably doesn't look very convincing. He hates being in mortal peril, ugh. 

Vanya smiles back at him but only for a second before her eyes go wide at the sight of something behind him. He turns around, quickly shoving his sister behind him, and comes face to face with the barrel of a gun and wow, he guesses he's about to be reunited with his version of Ben sooner than he thought. He closes his eyes. 

"Five!" 

Leave it to his smallest brother to not even let him die in peace. Typical. 

He opens his eyes again and Five is clinging to the masked assassins back, repeatedly stabbing one of Diego's knives into his neck. Blood is spraying everywhere and Five's face is already covered in it. Klaus thinks his brother looks absolutely feral. 

The assassin drops like a stone and Five appears next to them, a concerned expression on his face. 

"Are you okay?", he asks and Klaus tentatively nods. People are trying to kill them and now there's a corpse in their rented motel room. Same old, same old. 

"We're good", Vanya says. "You're bleeding." 

Well, now that she points it out, Five is indeed bleeding. There's a nasty gash on his forehead but Five only wipes the blood away that was threatening to get into his eyes. 

"Doesn't matter", he snaps. "Stay low and try not to attract too much attention."

He gets up and Klaus doesn't miss the way he sways and staggers a bit when trying to get back out of the door and back into the fray. Vanya doesn't either. She grabs his arm and Klaus will later remember this as the moment everything went to shit. 

Five yanks his arm away from Vanya but there's a split second he's distracted, a split second he looks back at her concerned face and falters. A split second is all the masked assassin on the floor, who's apparently not dead yet _how is he not dead_ , needs to pull the trigger and Five goes down. 

Vanya screams and Klaus is pretty sure he's screaming, too. The guy who attacked them drops the gun and his body goes slack but Klaus doesn't see that. His vision has tunneled in on his brother, lying on the floor, already way too still and his chest covered in blood from a gunshot wound that looks way too close to where Klaus remembers the heart to be. 

He can't bring himself to move for a moment but Vanya already has her hands on the wound, desperately pressing down on it. She's crying, begging. He shuffles forward, puts his hands on Five's face. His brother doesn't react, he doesn't open his eyes and he doesn't snap at Klaus to not touch him. Klaus thinks he's crying, too. 

"C'mon, Five. Don't do this", Vanya mutters and presses down harder but Five doesn't react. "Don't do this to us."

Klaus feels for a pulse but it's weak. Too weak and he knows even if they managed to defeat everyone outside and rush Five to a hospital that they wouldn't be on time. His brother is dying and there's nothing he or anyone of them can do. He didn't think he would get another companion so soon after Ben. He doesn't _want_ to get haunted by another brother he failed. 

He cups Five's face, waits for any kind of reaction, any kind of direction, what are they supposed to do? Klaus vaguely registers that Vanya is still sobbing. 

"Fuck, man", he chokes out. It fucking hurts, even though he's not the one with a gunshot wound. But he's the one who has to see his brother bleeding out on the floor, the one who just has to see another die. It hurts. 

He looks up and finds Vanya's eyes. She opens her mouth as if to say something but what is there to say, really. 

But Klaus never gets to hear what she wanted to tell him because suddenly his vision is overtaken by a flash of blue light and he feels like he's freefalling for a moment and maybe he's screaming again. They seem to do that a lot recently. 

He opens his eyes the moment his world stops spinning so violently. He's still sitting on the floor, Vanya is still next to him. Five is standing in front of them, a nasty gash on his forehead. 

"Doesn't matter", he says. "Stay low and try not to attract too much attention." 

And Klaus doesn't know what to make of this. He's so goddamn confused and he looks up at Five for some explanation. 

" _Oh yeah, I was dying but then I time traveled us back to when I was not dying but actually standing around and talking. Sorry about that._ " 

But the explanation doesn't come. Five turns around, doesn't even spare them a second glance and he stumbles a bit, just like before. Just like before, Klaus sees Vanya reach out for him and panic seizes him because he doesn't know what happened but he doesn't want to see his brother get shot again, he _can't_. Vanya hesitates. She doesn't grab his arm and he is not distracted. 

There is a gunshot but this time the bullet's target isn't Five, it's the man on the floor now bleeding from a hole in the head. His brother shoots them one last warning look that says _stay here_ and then he's gone. 

"What the fuck", Vanya whispers and Klaus is sure it's more to herself than to him but he agrees. _What the fuck_. 

"What the fuck. What just happened?", she asks and Klaus wishes he had an answer to that. 

"Did- Did you see that, too? You saw that too, right?" 

He did but he kinda wishes Vanya didn't so he could chalk it up to him having hallucinations or visions or just a really bad dream while he was accidently taking a nap in the middle of a fight. But Vanya seeing it too makes it a little too real for Klaus' taste.

"He was bleeding", Vanya keeps on rambling. "And- And he was dying and then he wasn't and he was fine. How- How did he do that?" 

And isn't it ironic that Vanya seems to suddenly be the chatty one because Klaus can't find it in himself to open his mouth and comment on the situation. 

_Because it was pretty scary_ , says the voice in his head that sounds too much like Ben. _You always shut down when you are scared. Use your words_.

Even the Ben in his head is a know-it-all. 

God, he misses his brother. 

"You mean Five getting gunned down and dying? Yeah, I noticed that." 

Vanya winces.

 _Wow, could you be a bit more sensible? It's Vanya_.

He would but he's very overwhelmed right now so Vanya will just have to deal until they force Five to explain. 

Klaus is sure his brother will explain. And then they will talk about their feelings and hug and then they'll forget about it. Klaus will add this to his ever growing pile of trauma and move on. And they'll be fine, as fine as one can be as a Hargreeves. 

Five can explain. Five will explain.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they talk so much in this, why are they so chatty
> 
> Also thank you so much for all the love, you guys are awesome! Hope you enjoy this!!!

As it turns out, Five can't explain

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

They're hiding in a motel two blocks down from where they were attacked. Five called it _stupid_ and _dangerous, do you want us all to get killed?_ but Diego had said it was like hiding in plain sight and they were all too tired to argue. Five had kicked him in the shins and they came to the agreement to look for a place tomorrow. Klaus was just glad he wasn't the target of Five's wrath this time. 

"Hold still, I swear to God", Allison hisses as she tries to disinfect Five's head wound. Emphasis on _tries_ , Five was never one to hold still for very long, not even when injured. _Especially_ not when injured. "If you keep moving around I will stop and you can die of a nasty infection and I will not be sad." 

Five shoots her a look that says _fine with me_ but stops moving his head, instead opting to stare straight ahead at Klaus. He narrows his eyes, as if he could read Klaus' thoughts if he concentrated hard enough. Klaus wouldn't be surprised, to be honest. 

"I never time traveled", Five insists but there's a pitch to his voice that reminds Klaus too much of actually thirteen year old Five saying _I'm fine_ with shaking hands after a personal training session. "And I'm insulted that you think I would get shot by some stupid Commission drone." 

"I don't think that, I fucking _saw_ it." 

"I don't know what you think you saw, but that never happened", Five retorts. "If you stopped poisoning yourself with every fucking pill and bottle you can find then maybe you wouldn't see things that aren't there." 

"You're an asshole", Klaus says because that was a low blow. Probably true, but still a low blow. 

Diego throws a pack of gauze at Five's head. "Don't be fucking rude, bro." 

Allison picks it up, opens it and slaps a plaster on Five's forehead with probably more force than necessary. "Yeah, Five, don't be fucking rude." 

Five rolls his eyes and goes to stand up, seemingly done with this conversation, but Allison pushes him back down on the bed. 

"I'm not done with you", she says and it looks like Five wants to interrupt her but she keeps going. "I don't care what you have to do or that you have to go and run off alone because you're the only one who can fix this or whatever it is you do all day. You have so many bruises and scrapes and I'm pretty sure you at least bruised your ribs. Sit the fuck down."

"Ohhh, busted", Diego grins right as Luther finishes patching him up and says "Dude, you got stabbed." 

"Only a little bit." 

"Can we please get back to the fact that Five died and then time traveled and was fine?", Vanya interrupts and it says a lot about the situation that she speaks up so loudly. "Because I saw that, too." 

"Right!" Klaus perks up. "Right! She saw it, too!" 

"Also, can we talk about the fact that Commission agents just hunted us down?", Luther says and sits down next to Diego. "Because I thought the Sparrow Academy would be the next big bad we have to deal with and not them. Again." 

"He's right", Diego agrees and puts his terribly ugly button-down back on. Klaus has yet to figure out how to steal it from him. "I gotta talk to Herb." 

"And how exactly are you planning on doing that, idiot?", Five hisses at him which is immediately followed by a whine when Allison tugs at his sweater vest, which is also _terribly_ ugly but Klaus would never go back to wearing that uniform. 

"Stop calling me an idiot, idiot!" 

"Well if you were smarter I wouldn't do that, but alas." 

"Why are you so fucking rude?" 

"Could you two stop it? I'm still making sure Five doesn't die of any undetected injuries, thank you very much." 

"I can take care of myself!" 

"Yeah, obviously not." 

"I don't need your mothering, Allison!" 

"She's only trying to help you, stop being so childish." 

" _Childish-_ " 

"For fuck's sake! Hold still!" 

"Guys, can we please focus?" 

" _Shut up, Luther!_ " 

"None of this is is in any way productive-" 

"Who the fuck cares about being _productive_ right now?" 

"Can we get back on topic, please?" 

"Why are you all so _stupid-_ " 

The glass Klaus is holding suddenly bursts as does the dingy little window. They go quiet and everyone turns to look at Vanya, who at least has the audacity to look a little bit sheepish. 

"Sorry", she says. "But fighting isn't going to solve any of our problems."

"She's right", Luther chimes in. "We need to start having conversations that don't end in a fistfight." 

"Can they turn into a knife fight?", Diego grins and Luther groans. 

"Come on, I'm trying to be serious!" 

Allison shakes her head, but Klaus thinks it looks more fond than disappointed. "We all need to take a break." She turns to Five. "You especially." 

"I don't-" 

"Stop this", Allison interrupts him. She has always been the bravest of them all. "We all need to have a serious conversation about what happened tonight but we can't do that if we're all running on two hours of rest." 

"I-", Five starts but Klaus can see it in his eyes that he knows Allison is right. They're all so goddamn tired. "Someone needs to take watch." 

"I'll do it", Luther volunteers and Klaus could honestly kiss him right now. He needs a bed and some shut-eye, _pronto_. There is no way he could stay up all night looking out for any threats with the headache that was already building up behind his eyes and the weariness weighing him down. He needs a drink. And some sleep. 

"You all get some sleep and we'll find someplace to stay first thing tomorrow", Luther continues, fully slipping into the role of their leader. "I'll wake you up if anything suspicious happens. Promise." 

Diego nods and hunkers down on the couch, pulling the ratty blanket up to his ears. "Wake me if you wanna switch." 

Luther doesn't say anything and they all know he won't. 

"Five, you take the bed", Allison says and gently tries to push their brother onto the mattress. Five pushes her hands away and snarls - actually _snarls_ \- at her before standing up. 

"I can take the floor", he decides and proceeds to curl up on the dirty carpet and Klaus wouldn't be surprised if he woke up with a rash or something equally disgusting. Allison just rolls her eyes and throws him a blanket with a muttered "Suit yourself". 

Allison and Vanya share the bed and Luther stays seated on the edge of Diego's sofa, his back to the wall and a cheap magazine in his lap and Klaus realizes if he doesn't want to sleep on the floor next to his murderous little brother he will have to sleep in this armchair. 

He hates this family.

-

“There's no way we can all stay here”, Five huffs and crosses his arms. Klaus thinks he still looks really tired but the bags under his eyes aren't quite as disconcerting as the other day. He wishes he could say that things are looking up but they are standing in front of a boxing gym, about to see if they could temporarily live in the boiler room. He's starting to miss his mansion, he doubts he will be drinking margaritas in a pool anytime soon. 

Tragic, really. 

“Just chill for a minute okay?”, Diego says and tries to smooth his hair. It doesn't work. “I'm gonna go in and if Al still works here and everything goes like last time, we'll at least have somewhere to stay.”

“Yeah, a goddamn boiler room! How are you gonna fit all of us _and_ Luther in there?”, Five complains, ignoring Luther's mumbled “Hey!”. Klaus has never been in Diego's home in the other timeline but from the looks of it, it must be small. He isn't keen on spending anymore time with his family in a single room with nowhere to go. The urge to murder them is starting to get really strong.

“Well, do you have a better idea?”, Allison asks from where she's sitting on a bench, her head in her hands. “We can't keep moving from motel to motel. Someone will notice us eventually.”

“We already got noticed”, Vanya mumbles and puts her head on Allison's shoulder. Load of good the night of rest did them. “Can it really get worse?”

“Pretty sure we've hit rock bottom”, Klaus chimes in and lights a cigarette because he feels like he'll go crazy without any kind of fix right now. Vanya makes grabby hands at him and he tosses her one. “I've been there before, it ain't that bad.”

If Ben were here he would tell him that Klaus has hit rock bottom more than once. He tries not to think about it.

“If you would all start using your fucking braincells for once-”

“Five, he's already inside”, Luther says and pets Five's hair. Five growls at him but doesn't hit him and Klaus is actually a bit jealous at that. He wants to pet Five and not get physically abused. There's no justice in this family.

"What are we gonna do after we find a place to crash?", Klaus asks and sits down next to Vanya. It's not like him to worry about the future but hey, someone's gotta. "Like, do we have to find jobs? Start a new life? Find new lovers?" 

"What we have to do is _fix_ this", Five says and pinches the bridge of his nose. 

"We fucked up so badly that we created a whole different timeline. How are we ever going to fix this?", Allison sighs and reaches for Vanya's cigarette. "How do I get my daughter back?" 

"I don't know yet", Five admits but he looks sincere when he says "I'll find a way, I promise." 

So he does have a heart. 

Luther nods. "We'll be okay. We just gotta -" 

"Someone's watching us", Five interrupts him and whirls around, hands already glowing blue. A murder of crows suddenly emerges from a tree behind them, startling them and making Klaus drop his cigarette. He hates birds. 

"You sure you're not just paranoid?", Vanya asks and Klaus is inclined to agree. The street they're on is next to a little park, nothing more than a patch of grass and two or three trees and completely empty. The few people walking by barely look at them. The gym is right across the street and they're sitting in the shadows of two of the three present trees. 

"Five? Paranoid? Unheard of", Allison says with a sly smile and Five also growls at her. How come Klaus is the only one who ever gets hit? 

"I'm not paranoid! Someone's watching us." 

"Commission agents again?", Luther asks, already on edge. Klaus is very comfortable on this bench, he doesn't want to run away again. He wishes Diego would hurry up. 

Five shakes his head. The crows fly over their heads again and before Klaus registers what's happening, he's getting attacked by a violent flock of birds. 

Vanya shrieks and ducks her head, and between his attempts to stop the sharp beaks and claws from scratching his eyes out, he sees Allison flailing violently on the other side of the bench. He feels every scratch and every bite and he doesn't know why these birds have it out for them, but he supposes it's not because he kept some crumbs from his breakfast bagel in his coat pocket. 

He _hates_ birds. 

Vanya pulses with energy next to him and before he knows it, a startling burst of energy pushes him on the floor. He sees the crows retreat for a moment, enough to push himself up and take cover behind the bench, before they circle back around to them. 

"What the hell is going on?", Allison shouts and Klaus would really like to know that, too. 

He's about to ask them if they also kept some leftovers from breakfast because if they _all_ have some then this attack might be justified. But then he looks over the edge of the bench that has become his hiding place and sees Ben standing there. 

_Ben_ is standing at the edge of the park and normally Klaus would be absolutely thrilled, but this Ben ( _it's not your Ben, it's not_ ) looks particularly murderous. 

He's half way over there before he registers that he's even walking, swatting away at birds left and right. He sees Five running towards him, face full of scratches and blood, and he _knows_ it's stupid to approach Ben but it's _Ben_. He doesn't even know what he wants to do, what he thinks to accomplish but he has the overwhelming need to talk to his brother. 

He ignores the voice in his head that says _that's not your brother_. 

Ben was always the most sensible of them, if he could just _talk_ to him. 

His thoughts are cut short by Ben starting to lift up his shirt, then by Five colliding into him and pushing him to the ground. The Horror is fast, Klaus is not sure it was ever this fast. It's _too fast_. 

He hears a sickening squelch somewhere above him and he barely has time to register that Five pushed him out of the way of his impending doom before a tentacle wraps around his ankle and he goes flying. 

-

Diego hates how much of a disaster his family sometimes is. 

Al agreed to let him stay, the conversation being the same one as last time. He relishes in the familiarity of the gym for a little while before making his exit, ready to be faced with relief and showered in praise for getting them a place to stay. 

Okay, he might be exaggerating a little bit. 

Still, he thinks, they might as well be fucking proud of him, seeing as he's the only one who had any solution to their homelessness. But instead of seeing them lounging in the park where he left them, he's met with shouting and a fucking _huge_ murder of crows picking away at his family. 

His hand automatically reaches for his knives, but the sight of another person standing there makes him stop in his tracks because that's _Ben_. 

That's Ben, who's about to release the Horror on them and there's Klaus who's stupidly approaching him and there's Five pushing him out of the way and there's the Horror, impaling his little brother. 

Diego runs. 

He runs and sees Ben send another one of his tentacles towards Klaus and he doesn't think, he just throws the knife. 

It hits its mark in Ben's shoulder and he flinches hard, the Horror sending Klaus flying towards the trees. Diego barely has time to hope he's okay before Ben turns towards him, fury in his eyes and Diego thinks, no _knows_ , he's done for. 

"Hey asshole!", Allison shouts and why would he attract his attention, is she suicidal? "I heard a rumor you called the Horror back." 

His sister is the only one in this family with any common sense, he decides. 

Diego runs towards Five, his eyes zeroing on the mess of blood surrounding his brother who is too still, oh God, he isn't moving he _isn't moving_. 

He skids to a stop in front of him, falling to his knees and his eyes find his brother's frantic ones. Blood is flowing out of his mouth and Diego doesn't know how to deal with this. He doesn't know how to deal with the fact that his brother's torso has been ripped apart and that there's no way they could get him any help. He tries not to look at Five's wound, tries to find a pulse and it's there but it's _too weak_. 

His eyes find Five's again and his brother is struggling to breathe, every inhale looking like absolute agony and Diego doesn't know what to do. Telling him it would be okay would be a lie and he can't do that, he can't lie to his dying brother. 

Dying. Five is dying. 

He's dying and he's in pain and Diego would do anything to help him right now, _anything_. 

He looks around, desperately looking for any support because his brother is dying and there's nothing he can do. Klaus is nowhere to be seen but he has to be okay he _has_ to. Luther is struggling to hold on to a very angry looking Ben and Diego feels ice cold fury racing through him. He wants to show this warped version of Ben exactly what happens if you hurt Diego's family. 

But he can't. Not when Five is lying in front of him, rasping out breath after breath, barely holding onto consciousness, onto life. Diego wants to cry. He wants to cry and scream because he just got his family back, he can't lose them again. He can't. 

"I got you", he whispers and leans forward, his forehead against Five's. "Not going anywhere." 

Five whimpers, actually _whimpers_ and Diego can't imagine the pain he's in. He doesn't know what to do, how to help. Everything is bloody and he can feel it seeping into his pants. He can't bring himself to care. 

Five's breath stutters and Diego wonders where the others are, what they're doing, why they're not here, why he's the only one who has to watch his brother die. It's not fair. Nothing about this is fair. 

It's not fair that Diego is the only one there when Five takes a raspy breath for the last time, his expression scared and pained, mirroring Diego's. Diego holds on for dear life, he needs his brother to know he's not alone. He thinks he's crying. 

Diego closes his eyes and his stomach lurches, he feels like he might throw up. He opens his eyes and he's standing in front of the gym, everyone's shouting, Ben is lifting his shirt, Klaus walks towards him, Five jumps in the way. 

He's confused, so very confused and it makes him slow. He's not fast enough. He's _not fast enough_.

It happens exactly like last time and he's back on his knees, holding onto his brother as he slowly bleeds out, as he slowly chokes on his own blood and Diego can't do this again. He can't. He doesn't know what's happening, why the universe would torture him like this. 

He knows his brother is in pain and he has half a mind to just put him out of his misery. But then he looks into Five's eyes and he looks so young and scared and too much like the brother he lost all those years ago and he can't. 

He holds onto Five's arm, desperate and watches his brother die. Again. He feels sick. 

He feels sick and he closes his eyes and then he opens them and he's back. He's back where he started and he still feels taken aback. He's confused and shocked and he's too fucking slow. He's too slow. 

He's too slow three more times. He watches Five die three more times. Diego is sure he will never get the sight out of his mind, will never be able to wash all the blood off of him. He doesn't know why he's being tortured like this as he sits in the pool of blood and watches Five take his last breath again. He closes his eyes again. 

He opens them and this time he's ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: wow five is my fav character  
> Me: time to kill him over and over again

**Author's Note:**

> me? writing a chapter fic? It's more likely than you think  
> let me know what you think my dudes!! stay fresh :D


End file.
